UPDATE: President Obama Urges Study Of Links Between Media And Violence

UPDATE, 1:13 PM: Entertainment organizations are weighing in to support Obama‘s gun initiatives. The MPAA, NAB, NCTA and Independent Film & Television Alliance just issued this joint statement: “We support the President’s goal of reducing gun violence in this country. It is a complex problem, and as we have said, we stand ready to be part of the conversation and welcome further academic examination and consideration on these issues as the President has proposed.”

PREVIOUS, 9:32 AM: The Presidential Order directs the Centers for Disease Control to investigate “the relationship between video games, media images and violence.” The president also asked Congress for the $10M needed to fund research into the impact of the graphic images “on young minds,” he said in an announcement this morning where he unveiled 23 executive actions to reduce gun violence. “We don’t benefit from ignorance. We don’t benefit from not knowing the science of this epidemic of violence.” Other measures in his executive order will make it easier for government agencies to check the background of gun buyers, launch a campaign advocating “safe and responsible” gun ownership, and develop emergency responses for schools and houses of worship. “I will put everything I’ve got into this,” he said. He urged ordinary citizens to support these and other changes following the murder last month of 20 school children in Connecticut. “It can’t just be the usual suspects” who speak out, he said. “This will not happen unless the American people demand it.” He added that those advocating changes will face “pundits and politicians and special interest lobbyists publicly warning of a tyrannical all-out assault on liberty, not because that’s true but because they want to gin up fear or higher ratings or revenue for themselves. And behind the scenes they’ll do everything they can to block any common-sense reform and make sure nothing changes whatsoever.” Speaking specifically of the shooting that killed 12 people in an Aurora, CO movie theater last July he said that “weapons designed for the theater of war have no place in a movie theater.”

You do realize that hyperbolic statements like this will negate any opinion you have, in the eyes of many. Broad and unfounded accusations and namecalling does nothing except make you look ignorant and extreme. Although maybe that’s what you’re going for.

Francis • on Jan 16, 2013 1:13 pm

You’re asking for a rational debate, but you just called Mr. Kastner “ignorant” and “extreme.” Who’s the “namecaller,” Tim?

Tim W. • on Jan 16, 2013 1:13 pm

No, I said comments like that make you LOOK ignorant and extreme, which is true. I never said that he WAS ignorant and extreme. Basically, I was asking him to clarify his comment into something more worthy of discussion.

frohman • on Jan 16, 2013 1:13 pm

Hmm. Wonder if the CDC will review the thousands of scholarly papers and academic research already completed on the subject.

Jared • on Jan 16, 2013 1:13 pm

I was just about to ask, haven’t we spent millions and millions on this already?

make it out to cash • on Jan 16, 2013 1:13 pm

we have concluded that Mental illness is culprit for not just this topic but many others. you could compare the rise of ice cream sales to the rise in crime in the U.S., don’t need millions of dollars to figure out if theres a correlation there.

Truth • on Jan 16, 2013 1:13 pm

Exactly!!! No, we just need $10 million to do “additional” research on this already studied topic! Hollywood and other culture promotion machines that spread hate and violence need to be regulated.

bobby • on Jan 16, 2013 1:13 pm

If you want to get something done fast — order a study.

But at least his heart’s in the right place, and some of the rest of the stuff he’s proposing has some real meat on it. I’m glad he’s looking at gun laws, AND video games, AND movies, TV etc.
The countries that don’t have this kind of gun violence don’t have gun access — but they also have socializes medical care, AND they don’t raise their kids on these first person shooter games… The problem isn’t simple. Yes, we need better control of who gets guns (which isn’t gonna be easy) — we also have a real culture of gun violence. it’s in our music, on our TV, in 90% of our video games. How do you change that???

It’s all part of the problem.

Sarah Hastings • on Jan 16, 2013 1:13 pm

I ABSOLUTLY BELIEVE THAT TO BE TRUE IMMEDIATELY AFTER PLAYING OR WATCHING A VIOLENCE kids And ADULTS ARE EFFECTED. IT WILLBE INTERESTING TO SEE HOW LONG AFTER EXPOSURE DO THE EFFECTS LAST.

Mr_Explosion • on Jan 16, 2013 1:13 pm

Why are you shouting? Does violent media have some kind of effect on your caps lock key?

Tim W. • on Jan 16, 2013 1:13 pm

Do these effects cause one to forget to turn their caps lock off when typing, which just makes it more difficult to read?

We’ve known for a long time that our industry has been off on this topic, just by looking at how the MPAA rates movies. You can have a triple digit body count and not get an NC-17, but show a man’s penis, and you aren’t going to get in a theater.

Q. • on Jan 16, 2013 1:13 pm

Seriously though, Japan, the UK, etc. watch the same films Americans do, but the percentage of gun violence in those countries is virtually nonexistent. How do you explain that?

Tvaddic • on Jan 16, 2013 1:13 pm

But the US is the largest video game market nearly double the number 2 country, Japan.

Grinaldi • on Jan 16, 2013 1:13 pm

They may watch some of the same films but the number of violent TV shows is virtually non-existent compared to the US.

Jace • on Jan 16, 2013 1:13 pm

many of these countries broadcast US series, including the very violent shows. The UK has a fair number of pretty violent and gruesome series of its own, as well.

The big difference is that these countries all but ban the sale or possession of semi-automatic or automatic guns. That, and the fact that they don’t treat dramatic works as some sort of reality show.

BearDogg-X • on Jan 16, 2013 1:13 pm

Money has already wasted into studies already done. One study says one thing, then another study finds the opposite. Quit wasting money into studies that will never give a definitive answer which in turn be used by ignorant politicians to push more laws in spite of a Supreme Court decision that says that “violent” media is protected free speech and mocked those studies.

Roy • on Jan 16, 2013 1:13 pm

Nobody’s forcing you to stay in this country, Joey…

geewhiz • on Jan 16, 2013 1:13 pm

Obama should also study how the whole world can be watching violent Hollywood movies and yet the level of gun deaths varied widely from one nation to the next. Take Japan for instance – not just Hollywood movies, but also their home grown pop coture is violent. Yet their gun deaths rate is far far lower. What a mystery!

Everyone needs to stop blaming Quentin Tarantino and start placing the blame where it belongs: guns being accessible by the mentally ill. DUH!

Tim W. • on Jan 16, 2013 1:13 pm

From what I gather, Obama is taking an “everything is on the table” approach, which is good. Plus, if he’s looking at everything, it’s more difficult for gun lobbyists to say their taking too much blame.

Personally, I think violent video games and movies would only be a problem if the kids were already mentally il, or at risk, to begin with. I think one problem is that parents don’t regulate their own kids enough and let them sit for hours in front of the TV playing video games and then wonder why their anti-social.

EK • on Jan 16, 2013 1:13 pm

Japan’s not a mystery. Different, more stringent gun laws, and no constitutional right to bear arms. Culturally greater emphasis on family and parental control. Mental illness also treated differently. So, all in all, a vast cultural and legal divide between the U.S. and Japan.

kirk • on Jan 16, 2013 1:13 pm

Oh yeah, the Japanese culture is a real model of stability and sanity

bobby • on Jan 16, 2013 1:13 pm

???

I know that’s supposed to be sarcasm, but what the hell does it mean? You’re referring to… WW II? What?

Jace • on Jan 16, 2013 1:13 pm

Gun ownership is all but impossible in Japan; hence almost no deaths by gun violence.

Sue • on Jan 16, 2013 1:13 pm

Are they are going to investigate how all the media and political attention on the shooter helps promote the idea of the next shooting?

Many of the shooters feel they have been ignored or picked on prior to their crime. The media attention allows them to go out with a bang.

Focusing overly on shooting may cause the potential perpertrator to be more creative. According to Wikipedia, the deadliest mass murder in US school history took place in 1927 and was not primarily a shooting.

Dave • on Jan 16, 2013 1:13 pm

Funny how all those Western European countries watching our violent shows and playing the same games aren’t storming the theater with an assault gun

Cosign • on Jan 16, 2013 1:13 pm

Well put.

Tvaddic • on Jan 16, 2013 1:13 pm

I’m not 100% sure, but I think it is harder to get a gun there.

bryan carter • on Jan 16, 2013 1:13 pm

I wonder how all the hollywood donors to the Czar feel now?

JB • on Jan 16, 2013 1:13 pm

The act of sitting in one place concentrating on a screen for hours on end is certainly a cause for short term nervousness, agitation or temperament. This remains to be true whether the video game is Tetris, Mario, a role playing game or a gruesome shoot-em-up or rather the person sits on couch and watching TV for hours on end. But the behavioral influence is very short term and is not the catalyst for real world violence, media watchers at large aren’t grabbing the nearest gun and going on a rampage. In fact almost all of the violent atrocities that we have been victim to have been the result of premeditation planning (i.e. ordering a weapon and planning a time and place for violence) and from chemically imbalanced members of society. Media being the most predominant voice of creativity and communication is too quickly blamed for influencing society when it is only certain aesthetics (i.e. an outfit, a haircut, a location, etc.) that are taken as a source of inspiration for the aggressor. Unfortunately this was also true in the past when media was predominantly books and radio. Even if we were to sanction our media and limit it to the likes of movies such as Bambi, we will still be exposed to random outbursts of violence but this time the inspiration, the calling or the “message” heard by an individual with mental disorder can still come from the hunter who kills bambi’s mother, the violence amongst the stags, or the female animals who separate our protagonists friendship.

The correlation between media and fatal acts of violence intuitively appears to be very low. Countries around the world consume very similar proportions of the very same media available in the United States. At times foreign media is actually more explicit in its violence or sexuality and has greater consumption and accessibility amongst its youth. Yet there is a dramatic disproportionate amount of gun violence in the US compared to other leading countries worldwide. In contrast the correlation between access and acceptance of guns within a nation and the statistics of gun violence is staggeringly high.

Guns have played an important role in history and there remains to be something said about the sport of hunting, but almost all guns bought in community areas only have the potential to bodily harm to its citizens. Not to mention militia grade weaponry, which some have been used in latest US headline massacres, still remain available commercially for some unknown purpose.

It is very difficult for a community to protect itself from radical acts of violence from a first time perpetrator nor can it anticipate the first outbreaks of an individual with a mental disorder. On the other hand Society can control its public’s accessibility to guns. Isn’t it time to significantly increasing gun control?

Heather Gillroy • on Jan 16, 2013 1:13 pm

Start by being a good parent. Take away the video games and cell phones.Turn off the TV.
Take the kids on a nature hike and camping.Take them to the park on a picnic and to fly a kite. Take them to an art show and a museum.

IsThisIt • on Jan 16, 2013 1:13 pm

That sounds horrific.

That’s not stimulating to kids in the modern era given current access to media and entertainment.

Whoa, calm down there, Heather. Don’t git yer gingham dress all bunched up in a bother! Go out and feed the chickens, then we’ll have a book readin’ just after supper.

Kenny Cather • on Jan 16, 2013 1:13 pm

The rest of the world isn’t playing the same video games as the US. First person shooter and sports games are by far the most popular types of games in the US while those same games barely sell anywhere else in the world.

Can't even begin to say how wrong you are. • on Jan 16, 2013 1:13 pm

You’re obviously not a gamer and don’t know a damn thing about the industry. That has to be one of the single most uninformed comments I’ve ever read.

Kade • on Jan 16, 2013 1:13 pm

What complete and utter rubbish. You obviously have no idea about the gaming community. Please check your facts before you make ridiculous statements.

Mary • on Jan 16, 2013 1:13 pm

Most countries in the world also do not allow private gun ownership, or make it extremely onerous to do so. They have virtually no killings by guns as a resort. Tighter gun control is one step in the right direction. No one needs an assault weapon, submachine gun, etc. to hunt, unless all you want to do is blow your “kill” to smithereens. Hunting is supposed to be about skill, not shooting something enough times that it disappears in a hale of bullets.

rain1975 • on Jan 16, 2013 1:13 pm

I live in Italy and here we do watch Hollywood movies, U.S. tv shows and we have tons of first-person shooting games. What we DON’T have is access to guns. It is very difficult to gain a permit to buy a weapon for a civilian: if you want a gun, you have to show proof that you need it for your job and rifles are only sold if you have a hunting license. The other way to get a gun is illegaly of course, but that’s even more difficult. To get your hands on a gun you need to have strong ties to organized crime.
I believe access is 90% of the problem, but the “all hands” approach of the President makes sense, it’s a way to put a halt to the criticism from the pro-guns side.
Video games are not evil, but *maybe* spending 6 or more hours a day playing isn’t healthy, for anybody. But i do not believe, for a second, that movies or games are the problem.

angriest planet • on Jan 16, 2013 1:13 pm

Christ…enough with this blaming TV/Movies/Video games for the downfall of society.

When 16 year old Brenda Ann Spenser shot at a bunch of students arriving for school in Ohio back in 1979, she said the reason she did it was “I Don’t Like Mondays.”

I don’t recall the president asking the CDC to do a study on whether or not Mondays inspire violent behavior.

And I don’t see a CDC study on how religion creates violence…but God and gun owners have much more powerful lobbies than the entertainment industry so Washington would rather try to look tough going after fantasy violence than going after the real problems. Hasn’t this joke gotten old yet?